My interest in assessing colonialism involves the content as much as the process. In the photograph assessment, which I am currently grading, I want students to address the racism inherent in both colonialism itself and how it is presented in textbooks. The assignment, however, raises as many issues as it closes. I am finding it much […]
Category: Curriculum
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White innocence and legality
History and social studies teachers should be wary of the ways that whiteness shaped and shapes who is included and who is excluded.
I’m frankly a little embarrassed as a history teacher that I was slow to take seriously the popular support for and acquiescence to the possible authoritarianism of President-Elect Trump (for more on Trump’s authoritarianism see @sarahkendzior and Brendan Nyhan). Despite extensive reading and research since I started teaching in 1990, America, its past and present, is always more racist than […]
UPDATE: Resources for the lesson described in this post are now on this page. For high school history teachers, comparing secondary source treatments of historical events is no longer just a good idea, it’s the law. In Minnesota that’s state social studies standard 9.4.1.2.2, benchmark: “Evaluate alternative interpretations of historical events; use historical evidence to support or refute those interpretations.” This […]
The following was originally posted elsewhere on 5/19/2012. I took a first shot at adapting and implementing Bruce Lesh’s lesson on Truman’s decision to fire MacArthur on Thursday and Friday. The first day was mainly establishing context using maps, notes, and political cartoons. I found this to be fairly labored, and my large 4th period class in particular […]
It is as if for all of these years I have been giving students information as context for critical thinking activities that rarely come.
I use teacher candidates to differentiate classes more frequently, because we can provide supervision and instruction for two groups simultaneously.
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Uncovering Apartheid
UPDATE: I have created a webpage with a lesson plan and links to specific resources for the activity described below. While looking for some primary sources to make a short unit on Modern Africa more student-centered I came across a trove of primary sources at the South African Government’s site for Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. […]
I just submitted a letter supporting the proposed 2011 standards. Guidelines for submitting are here. While the standards are not perfect, in my view, they are definitely an improvement over what we have now and what we would get if the process becomes politicized. Since there is organized opposition to the new standards I wanted […]
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What is World History?
The idea of “World History” is relatively new.